NORRISTOWN — Thursday night’s rain pushed Game Three of the Perkiomen Valley Twilight semifinal series between Skippack and Norristown to Friday — a night that the baseball gods must have looked down and smiled upon.

Norristown came in with their backs against the wall after losing two heartbreakers—Games One and Two were decided by a total of just three runs—and fought back, walking off on Tony DeLude’s game-winning single in the eighth in their 1-0 win.

Much like the first two games of the set, this game belonged to the pitchers: Skippack’s Keith Moyer and Norristown’s Dave Henniger.

The teams combined for a scant four hits through the first seven innings before Norristown came up to the plate in the eighth.David Wolfson flew out to first to lead off the inning, before Dan Hull reached on a single. Matt Sperling flew out to right in the next at-bat, putting Matt Roth up with the game on the line.

Roth hit a grounder to short—nothing that Wrangler shortstop Tom Mahoney can’t usually handle—but Mahoney misplayed the ball and it dribbled into shallow left, putting Roth on first and Hull on third.

Tony DeLude broke his bat on a 0-1 pitch in the next at-bat and sent it to shallow left, scoring Hull and keeping the season alive for the Diamonds.

“The outcome was better, but we’re still not hitting the ball,” Norristown manager Vince Elsier said after the game. “Their pitching was good, but we went 21 straight innings without scoring.”

“Two old veterans came through in the clutch, Dave (Henniger) and Tony (DeLude),” Elsier went on.

Skippack manager Jeff Murtha wasn’t concerned with the loss.

“That’s no big deal,” Murtha said. “They’ve still got to beat us twice. We just have to go out and play our game.”

Moyer threw admirably in his loss, tossing seven and two thirds innings before DeLude walked off. He allowed three hits and struck out nine.

Henniger did Moyer one better. He went all eight in his complete game shutout, striking out five and scattering two hits.

“Our pitching’s been really good, but we’ve just had a couple of hiccups in game one and two. I’m hoping we can get the pitchers a little more comfortable. It’s not easy pitching with that pressure,” Elsier said.

“Fortunately, we’re still around,” Elsier went on. “We’re not back in it by any stretch of the imagination, but we’re still in it.”